The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a rotor state sensor system and, more particularly, to a three point displacement rotor state system.
Fly-by-wire (FBW) control systems provide for helicopter stability, response predictability and maneuvering agility while allowing pilots to effectively manage mission and situational awareness. Modern vehicle management systems (VMS) are becoming highly integrated and comprehensive, which effectively protects the aircraft from vibration, provides condition based maintenance, improves maneuvering capability and adapts to mission and environmental demands. At the same time, a unique and critical system on a helicopter is the rotor system, which is highly complex and consists of numerous moving parts. It would be beneficial for the vehicle control and management systems noted above to utilize rotor information, although current production rotors have few (if any) flight control or sensors in the rotating frame.
The rarity of rotors with sensors in the rotating frame can be attributed to many factors including, but not limited to, input/output (I/O) processing increases, increased numbers of sensors in total and increased redundancy requirements. Additional factors can include the fact that the rotor environment can be harsh for sensor equipment, the fact that the available sensors may have low quality and high costs and the fact that it can be difficult to transmit sensor data from the rotating frame to the non-rotating frame.